Comparison Between 'Salvation And Shooting An Elephant'

Have you ever felt every choice you make is scrupulously watched by society? This feeling is neither paranoia nor imagination but well justified in view of the fact that cultural expectations influence everyday choices. Society is crowded with guidelines for humans to follow; if people go against the norm they fall under the judgment of others. Having these ideas and concepts of what is normal is often seen as a way of keeping everyone in order. Social norms affect everyday life and cause many people to alter themselves to be accepted. Imagine if your thoughts could be expressed without the feeling of being judged; life would be much different. In both “Salvation” and “Shooting an Elephant” the authors show that societal pressures force people
People are meant to have their own thoughts and beliefs. In “Salvation” this is shown through the church members forcing the young sinners to see Jesus even though many might not see it at that very moment. This forced many of the kids to lie, rather than tell the truth that they have not seen what their elders have spoken of. Feeling the pressure from the older church- goers around him the young sinner finally thought “to maybe save further trouble, I’d better lie, too, and say that Jesus had come, and get up and be saved. So I got up”(Hughes 10). This shows he is not really given the choice to whether he sees Jesus or not. It is pressured on him to follow the rest of the sinners and stand up, rather than being true to his self and telling his elders that he can not see Jesus at the moment. This becomes a problem when people feel that it is not ok for them to be different than others. The ones that do differentiate themselves from the normal expectations are the ones that thrive. These people push society forward, rather than being content with the current
Some of the most brilliant ideas have been completely against the norm and revolutionary at the time. As many say it is crucial to have a college degree to be successful; some very successful people, such as Mark Zuckerberg decided to go against society and take his idea of Facebook to the business world. This was a big risk for him because if he failed maybe in society would have laughed thinking that he didn’t know any better. Zuckerberg took a huge risk bringing a social network to people, but also an advertising business that was eager to make money. Zuckerberg stated that “So many businesses get worried about looking like they might make a mistake, they become afraid to take any risk. Companies are set up so that people judge each other on failure" leading to progress in society being hindered due to the pressures of expectations. This compares to the moment Orwell feels the crowd of Indians eagerly waiting for him to get flattened by the rabid elephant; making him alter his decisions so he doesn’t make a fool of